dawn of a September
morning, having snatched a hasty breakfast, of which the excited boys
had scarcely time to taste. Buffalo beef, they confidently said, was
their favorite meat. They would dine on buffalo hump that very day.

Oscar, more cautious than the others, asked Younkins if they were sure
to see buffalo soon.

"Surely," replied he; "I was out to the bend of the Fork just above
the bluffs, last night, and the plains were just full of 'em, just
simply black-like, as it were."

"What?" exclaimed all three boys, in a breath. "Plains full of them,
and you didn't even mention it! What a funny man you are."

Mr. Howell reminded them that Mr. Younkins had been accustomed to see
buffalo for so long that he did not think it anything worth mentioning
that he had seen vast numbers of the creatures already. So, as they
pressed on, the boys strained their eyes in the distance, looking for
buffalo. But no animals greeted their sight, as they passed over the
long green swales of the prairie, mile after mile, now rising to the
top of a little eminence, and now sinking into a shallow valley; but
occasionally a sneaking, stealthy coyote would noiselessly trot into
view, and then, after cautiously surveying them from a distance,
disappear, as Sandy said, "as if he had sunk into a hole in the
ground." It was in vain that they attempted to get near enough to one
of these wary animals to warrant a shot. It is only by great good luck
that anybody ever shoots a coyote, although in countries where they
abound every man's hand is against them; they are such arrant thieves,
as well as cowards.

But at noon, while the little party was taking a luncheon in the shade
of a solitary birch that grew by the side of a little creek, or
runlet, Sandy, the irrepressible, with his bread and meat in his hand,
darted off to the next roll of the prairie, a high and swelling hill,
in fact, "to see what he could see." As soon as the lad had reached
the highest part of the swale, he turned around and swung his arms
excitedly, too far off to make his voice heard. He jumped up and down,
whirled his arms, and acted altogether like a young lunatic.

"The boy sees buffalo," said Younkins, with a smile of calm amusement.
He could hardly understand why anybody should be excited over so
commonplace a matter. But the other two lads were off like a shot in
Sandy's direction. Reaching their comrade, they found him in a state
of great agitation. "Oh, look at 'e